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"Your brother-in-law's Li Zicheng is blind! Here we go again! ”

Seeing that in the middle of the array that stretched for several miles, the two-zhang high banner standing in a cluster of more than 100 elite cavalry was hunting and fluttering in the gale, so angry that Wang Yuncheng scolded!

He had already learned from the interrogation of the prisoners that in this battle, the main force was the soldiers and horses of the 5th Battalion of the Huige, but the commander of the battle was Liu Zongmin, the general of the camp, and Li Ziyuan himself did not come.

The reason why he scolded was because the banner of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion was taken out again!

Last time in Zhuxian Town, the elite of Zuo Liangyu's department was greatly injured by the Dragon and Tiger Battalion, and all the elite soldiers and horses were lost. It was chased all the way from Kaifeng to the Nanyang realm by the Dragon and Tiger Battalion! The generals of the Zuo Battalion have always wondered, why is this Dragon and Tiger Battalion like a cowhide plaster, always sticking to us? Chasing and killing day and night, chasing for hundreds of miles without sleep, are they really iron-clad?

As a result, when he escaped from the border of Henan, the sentinel under the command of King Xiao Qin, who was in charge of the palace, captured a general who broke into the camp, and the truth was revealed! It turned out that it was Yuan Zongdi, Hao Shaoqi, Liu Fangliang and others who chased and killed the left army for hundreds of miles. Each person is responsible for the pursuit for a day, under the banner of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion, after a day of pursuit, immediately stop, rest in place, hand over the pursuit task and the battle flag of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion to the next class, and then the military horses will slowly march and rest behind.

In this way, the three troops and horses pursued in turn. Brutally beat the 200,000 horses of the left battalion to just over 30,000 people. If it weren't for Zuo Liangyu's many years of business in Xiangyang, he would have a foothold. After returning to Xiangyang, he even made a big effort to catch strong men, and then he reluctantly restored the army to its original state.

Today, here, I saw the battle flag of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion again, how could this not annoy Wang Yuncheng, Hui Dengxiang and others? What a trick. No matter how easy it is, you can't use it again and again, right?!

"Li Chuang and Cao Cao, the two bandit leaders, are not there, the Dragon and Tiger Camp is the most elite of the thieves, and it will never be too far away from the two thieves!"

"That's right! Rush up! Defeat this group of thieves who pull the banner as a tiger's skin! Let them know that our left camp is not so easy to bully! ”

Several generals cheered each other up and discussed for a moment, and immediately worked out tactics.

"Wave after wave!"

"The thief's firebolt. If you don't have a good head, you may not be able to hit it! ”

"Go!"

The elite soldiers and family members under several generals drove the soldiers and horses that threatened those miscellaneous troops to rush forward, trying to use the corpses of these miscellaneous soldiers to break the myth of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion.

"It's coming!" From the binoculars, Wang Lung looked at the soldiers and horses of the battalion outside the left camp that were swarming in. To be sure, these soldiers were no better than the peasant army, which they called thieves, and the foot soldiers and hungry soldiers of the hungry people.

The noise and howls came and went, and the spear in his hand was raised like a tree, in the sunlight. Waves of people's heads rise and fall, like the waves of the sea.

"Push the cannon up! Let the cannon teach these people a lesson! Let them know and know, and when they see our banner in the future, they will run far away as soon as possible! A relaxed smile appeared on Wang Lung's face, judging from the momentum of the formation, he knew that the army opposite was a typical rabble. The combat power value is not enough for five pure scum!

But the number of opponents was too large, and the firecrackers could not fire a few shots before they had to fight hand-to-hand with bayonets. To be on the safe side, first bombard the enemy formations with artillery. After making it more scattered, it is safer to use a volley of guns.

"Artillery come forward! The gunner prepares. ”

"Battalions get out of the way!"

"Gunner, check the gunpowder, light the arquebus......"

As Wang Lung's deputy, Niu Xizi, who commanded the operation, was slightly excited and passed down the order. The cavalry signal corps will convey the orders one by one. The officers of each battalion and each sentry immediately responded, dodging the passage of the artillery advance, and letting the mules and horses lead the artillery wagons forward and put them in line. Then the soldiers responded in unison, with the sound of a fiery bell and the sound of a fire fold lighting a fiery.

"Artillery test firing, put!"

"Put!"

The shooter of a six-pounder cannon in front of Wang Long's banner closed one eye. He took a look from the lookout of the barrel of the cannon in the direction of the soldiers and horses of the left battalion, and motioned to his partners to lower the cannon shaft. With a vigorous swing of the shooter's right hand, the fiery rope on the gunner's long pole ignited the primer with a loud bang. A cannonball whistled towards Wang Yuncheng's army formation four hundred paces away.

The loud sound of the cannon being discharged had not yet subsided, and the shell had already screeched into the crowd.

Like a stone thrown into a pond and causing ripples, a tidal commotion immediately broke out in the crowd, staring at the cannonball with the intention of dodging, but in the middle of the formation, where to hide?

The arm of a general flag in front of the formation was broken at the shoulder, and the whole person was carried to one side by the huge kinetic energy. Then the iron ball was wrapped in a cloud of blood mist and rushed into the outer camp of soldiers and horses. There was a crackling sound of fractures, and the iron ball swept off the arms, legs, and feet of several people. Fortunately, it is summer, and the land is relatively wet, and if you fight in the north in winter, this big iron ball will inevitably bounce on the ground that is frozen hard as steel, and I don't know how many lives and flesh will be left with it.

Heart-rending cries were heard, and several disabled sergeants lay on the ground rolling and howling. Looking at their miserable appearance, the lucky ones beside them were all colorless.

This cannon alone caused a violent commotion in Wang Yuncheng's miscellaneous military horses in the outer camp, but it did not affect the overall situation. Because there are so many people! The small commotion in front could not affect the brigade that continued to swarm behind.

What's more, there are also Wang Yuncheng's relatives and soldiers, constantly shouting and urging these soldiers and horses to just move forward?

But then tragedy ensued!

The difference between the two armies was only more than 200 steps, and Lao Huihui, He Jin and others, who were holding down Wang Long's position on the right side, almost shouted and ordered their subordinates to make a move. And the formation of these soldiers from the outer battalion of the left battalion became denser and more chaotic. The men in the back kept trying to rush to the front, and those in front were picking up their pace, trying to rush to the gun position before the guns could fire again.

"Fire!"

Niu Xizi used all his strength to wave the command flag in his hand downward, and in his shout that almost split his vocal cords, the artillery team of the Flying Dragon Battalion opened fire unevenly! In the midst of continuous, deafening artillery firing. Two twelve-pounder guns, six eight-pounder guns, eight large francs, twelve six-pounder guns, and twenty-seven franc medium guns opened fire at the same time.

Because of the technical level of the gunners, the artillery did not manage to hit a beautiful salvo. Get the most out of your shells. However, the dense fire and smoke that rose one after another became an eternal haze in the hearts of the soldiers and horses of the Left Battalion and the Fifth Battalion of the Hui Revolution!

In the area where the artillery team was placed, the frontal depth of 2,300 paces, and at most more than 500 paces, was shrouded in the shotgun projectiles fired by these 60 or so large and small guns.

The projectile, the thickness of a thumb and slightly smaller than a chestnut, was wrapped in cotton cloth and stuffed into the chamber of the cannon, and was pushed out of the chamber by the tremendous force generated by the gunpowder. The shotgun projectiles ejected by these more than 60 guns of various types were nothing less than astronomical numbers on such a narrow battlefield, and the dense projectiles covered the entire platoon of the left battalion's charging array in a short instant.

It was as if a strong wind had risen on the sea and hail had fallen from the sky, and the charging people had barely had time to scream. was knocked to the ground by a dense rain of bullets, and streams of blood kept blooming on the ground, and in a hurry, the owners of these blood were trampled into flesh by countless pairs of big feet......

Those shotguns, which were slightly smaller than chestnuts, often passed through a body with the help of gunpowder, and then viciously pounced forward along the trajectory of the modified human body, looking for the next victim.

The projectiles between this square circle can be described as dense as rain.

Pity the soldiers and horses of the outer battalion of the left battalion who rushed ahead. In front of the shotgun, all beings are really equal, regardless of whether they are swept away. Especially when they are densely crowded, they are even better targets.

After this round of artillery fire, the advance of the left battalion lost at least a few thousand!

Seeing that the comrades in front of him were beaten into a sieve, the soldiers and horses of the outer battalion could no longer be controlled.

Someone immediately turned around and ran, but in a blink of an eye, he was beheaded by the overseer behind him!

"Which one dares to run?!"

"Alas! It's still a little rushed. Otherwise, the artillery flank arrangement can kill and wound some more soldiers of the left battalion! Wang Lung said regretfully to He Jin, who was riding a horse, and pointed to the artillery arranged on the first line, but in the ears of He Jin, the king of Zuojin, this is simply a big bargain and a good seller! Obviously, a single cannon shot took out the opponent's striker. They lost their sharpness, but here they are sad and say that they did not achieve the expected effect? Who the hell are you blind?!

"Uncle He, I won't say much. In a moment, when my men charge, your cavalry will press on both flanks. ”

Wang Lung knew very well what the situation of the Ming army on the other side was now. Such a trick, he and Luo Hu in Shandong, together with the soldiers and horses of the Beijing battalion, used it more than once for Abatai's Eight Banners. The combat effectiveness of those newly annexed Han army banners was good compared to the Ming army in Shandong, but they were far from being comparable to the bannermen of Eight Banners Manchuria and Eight Banners Mongolia, and even they could not endure the pain after the artillery strike, not to mention the miscellaneous soldiers contained by Zuo Liangyu in front of them.

"Firecrackers, step forward!"

Taking advantage of the chaos of the soldiers and horses of the left battalion, the firecrackers of the Feilong battalion began to slowly step forward, and the long queue crossed their own artillery team, and some people kept giving a thumbs up to their brothers in the artillery team, expressing their admiration for their combat power and achievements.

"The general said, the big white steamed buns are enough to eat at night! And meat! ”

"We can't be sorry for the steamed bun stew, right?"

From time to time, similar conversations flew into the air in the middle of the group, laughing and flying.

This is also Luo Rucai's Cao Ying, and Zhang Xianzhong's Xiying who is now in Huguang and Taihu, Qianshan, and Anqing, can laugh and talk in the battle array, and if they change the camp and Li Shouhan's Nanyue Army, who dares to make loud noises and laugh in the marching army, it will immediately be a military law service!

Looking at the queue of the Flying Dragon Camp that slowly pressed up on the opposite side, Wang Yuncheng almost regretted his intestines! Although the team on the other side was not the Dragon and Tiger Battalion, it was half of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion that day! After Zhu Xianzhen, I don't know how many sophisticated firearms Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai collected from all over the country to equip them, making them so fierce.

Suddenly, he remembered that his subordinates also had firearms!

"Move the one who made the gun to Lao Tzu to the front! Shoot! Stop these bandits! ”

The chaotic sound of firecrackers began to sound in the array of soldiers and horses in the left battalion, and occasionally one or two of the Flying Dragon Battalion firecrackers snorted during the march, and were hit by flying projectiles and fell to the ground. The people on the left didn't look at it, just walked as usual, and naturally the auxiliaries behind them came quickly. Carry him away.

"Shoot the arrows! Shoot! ”

Wang Yuncheng's order has not stopped.

Under the unstoppable use of bows and arrows by the soldiers and horses of the left battalion, the Flying Dragon Battalion lost hundreds of people in this short period of more than 100 steps.

"Stop!"

The platoons of the two armies came to a halt less than ten paces away.

The beat of the Chinese military drum, which was used to adjust the pace, stopped, and at a distance of less than a hundred paces from the soldiers and horses of the left battalion, Wang Lung ordered to stop the advance and reorganize the ranks. Immediately. A number of musketeers hurriedly followed the team and returned to their respective formations.

"Firecracker, check the medicine!"

As early as the time of the formation, these musketeers had already loaded their fixed cartridge ammunition. At this time, amid the shouts of the officers one after another, the more than 10,000 firecrackers took off the guns and caps of their guns, and once again carefully checked the situation of their firearms.

"Check the arquebus!"

There was another clattering of the inspection rope.

"First column ready, come forward! Get ready to shoot! ”

The dense firecrackers flipped down, and the first row was close to 4,000 firecrackers. They all aimed the black pressure at the miscellaneous soldiers of the left battalion and the outer battalion who were already in a panic not far away.

A suona rose into the sky, passing Wang Lung's orders to every officer.

"Shoot!"

When the flag-bearers and captains of each battalion, and the sentinel commanders and commanders of each department heard this long-awaited voice, they all pointed their long knives forward and shouted in unison: "Shoot!" ”

A deafening sound of firecrackers rang out, and four thousand firecrackers fired a salvo on a mile-long front. A long, dense field of gunsmoke was vacated.

In the dense formation in front of the left battalion, a blood mist was immediately spewed out. A large piece fell in an instant. After being shot, many people seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then they woke up and rolled to the ground screaming miserably.

After the gunners in the front row finished shooting, they quickly changed the formation from shoulder to shoulder to dense formation, making way for the brothers in the second and third columns who came up later. Stand behind the third platoon of gunners and take out their canes to clean the barrels and reload them with gunpowder and lead bullets to get ready for the next round of shooting.

Under the frightened gaze of the soldiers and horses of the left battalion, more than 3,000 firecrackers in the second row took a few steps forward. They raised their fiery guns. The black pressure of the mouth was aimed at the Ming army on the opposite side like the soul hook card of the bull head and horse face.

"Put!"

A large stream of gunpowder smoke rose into the air, condensing into a wall of smoke above the heads of the firecrackers, and not far away there were large corpses of soldiers of the left battalion and the wounded screaming miserably.

The sound of the firecracker continued, and the firerope of the firecracker ignited the primer in his fire door, and the shining flames rose out, and then turned into fireworks that spewed out violently from the mouth of the fire. The result was a deafening volley of firing guns.

After two volleys of muskets, the first two rows of musketeers had retreated to the third row and reloaded. Although the ignition method is different, they are all the same fixed cartridge ammunition, so it is only a short time for the two rows of muskets to fire a salvo, and the two columns of musketeers have already loaded their own cartridge ammunition.

The first column of musketeers came to the front again, raised their muskets, and aimed at the soldiers and horses of the left battalion that had turned their backs to them.

"Put!"

The sound of loud shouts rang out, followed by a deafening burst of firearms.

Someone in the left battalion suddenly let out a wail similar to that of a beast when it was dying, and then, as if it was a virulent infectious disease, this wail resounded throughout the entire army from left to right, from front to back.

"Brothers, run!"

Tens of thousands of people have been running on the road together.

Wang Yuncheng, Hui Dengxiang, Xiao Qin Wang, Ma Jinzhong, Ma Shixiu and others were swept by their respective waves of defeat and fled in the direction of Fancheng.

The army of the left battalion is not much stronger than thieves and poles. When slaughtering the people and plundering the prefectures and counties, they are all like wolves and tigers, and when they fight against the wind, they can cross thousands of miles, and once they encounter hard stubble, they have no courage. If you retreat, it's even more doomed. (Huh?) How do you feel in the Black Army again? ）

Even if Hui Dengxiang tried to reorganize the army a little under Bai Gui's response, and by the way, he took the opportunity to annex some other battalion leaders, but he couldn't do it. As long as there is a slight pause, a large group of defeated soldiers will have red eyes and draw their swords against each other.

I had no choice but to flee forward.

"Haha! You Zuo Liangyu. There are also today! ”

Liu Zongmin, Liu Fangliang, Li You, Hao Shaoqi, Lao Huihui, He Yilong, He Jin, Lin Yangyang, Liu Xiyao and others gathered under Wang Long's handsome banner.

Hao Shaoqi grinned and was ecstatic, and He Yilong watched the defeat of the left camp with a telescope, and his mouth was also ecstatic. The rout team that lasted for dozens of miles, the corpses of people and horses lying everywhere, and the wounded soldiers who were injured and did not die in a pool of blood for a while, howling miserably, only inhaled excitedly in their mouths. However, Li You's deputy, Bai Wang, said excitedly: "General Wang is really good!" ”

"Uncle Jiexuan! Lao Zuo, the rabbit master, can't play any tricks now. His men and horses have been scattered. How to eliminate, please show Uncle Jiexuan! ”

"Show me something! Mingyuan, Ziyi, Bai Wang, Bai Minghe, the four of you just divide into four teams from the right side to take over the pursuit, contain the prisoners, and check the baggage! Turning his head, "Ma Shuai, He Shuai." The elite cavalry of your five families, attacking from the left flank, also alternately covering and responding, collecting the defeated soldiers of the left battalion, the horses, the armor, the swords and guns, and the gold and silver of the left battalion, all belong to your troops. ”

The old man screamed: "Hit the rabbit." That's the job our old horse is most willing to do! Sons, follow me! ”

Left and right wings. Each was led by thousands of iron cavalry, and tens of thousands of cavalry formed two iron streams and rolled away.

Wang Lung only led his own Flying Dragon Battalion, and slowly pressed the formation behind the large group of men and horses, containing the prisoners sent in front, and those prisoners were very honest when they saw the soldiers of the Flying Dragon Battalion. Let kneel on the ground and let the assembly line up and gather and line up.

But it was because of the broken guts!

The cavalry that pursued in front was like a pack of wolves holding sheep, and they pursued closely behind the defeated army, and some of them could not run. It was to rush up and surround it, causing the defeated soldiers to kneel on the spot, waiting for the infantry behind to come up and contain them.

The captured soldiers, captured flags, tents, grain and grass, horses, weapons, and armor were transported down from the front in an endless stream, and Hao Shaoqi, who was so happy that his hands and feet were itchy next to Liu Zongmin, scratched his ears and cheeks.

"Master Liu, Master Liu, you also let me go forward and cut off a few heads, seize something and have a good time!"

Liu Zongmin ordered Wu Ruyi, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, who accompanied him, to classify and count the seized materials and goods one by one, and then distribute them according to the method discussed by the generalissimo with Luo Rucai, Lao Huihui and others. Special explanation, half of the captured fire guns were sent to the Flying Dragon Camp, and Wang Longwang was asked to collect his subordinates.

"Tell Lang Zhong that the soldiers of each battalion must be healed if they hang colors."

After explaining these things, Liu Zongmin looked at Hao Shaoqi's impatient black face with a smile, "You want to go to the front to kill the thief and make meritorious service?" Wave the flag, I don't dare to send you forward! You go up, what if you steal someone's horse again? ”

"Good my Liu Ye, good my Brother Jie Xuan! Don't laugh at me all the time with that little bit of nonsense! Our old Hao will definitely not cause trouble this time! I must bring back the heads of Zuo Liangyu's rabbit and grandfather to you! ”

Liu Zongmin heard this and nodded with satisfaction.

"I don't want a head. The generalissimo said, Zuo Liangyu was broken by our two battles, and in the future, I am afraid that I will be scared to pee my pants when I hear the news of our rebel army! It's just the right time to be a pioneer for us! However, this Xiangyang City is going to fall on your Hao Shaoqi's head to take it! ”

"Don't worry, Brother Jiexuan! If you can't take Xiangyang City, our old Hao's head will hang on the city tower! ”

"Remember! Don't chase too hard, don't chase too fast! Hanju's soldiers and horses may not have taken Chengtian! You chased too quickly, and the old grandson didn't come out of hiding in Tongguan! Looking at the back of Hao Shaoqi, who was urging the horse out and was about to leave with his soldiers and horses, Liu Zongmin shouted loudly.

"Yes, there are 300,000 soldiers and horses in Liangyu's department, and the thieves Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, Lao Huihui, Ge Liyan and other millions of elite cavalry will fight on the front line of Xinye and Fancheng. The thieves fought against tens of thousands of Liangyu's cavalry with hundreds of thousands of fine cavalry. With 200,000 firearms and hundreds of artillery, they attacked the Liangyu infantry team. Liangyu's troops were scattered, but fortunately, they were united by kindness and righteousness on weekdays, so although the soldiers were defeated, they were able to return to the camp, so the loss of soldiers and horses was not large. ”

This is Zuo Liangyu's description of the Battle of Fancheng in Xinye in his letter to Hou Fangyu, but what about the facts?

He led less than 30,000 soldiers from the inner battalion to cross the Han River along the pontoon bridge from Fancheng in one breath, and fled to Xiangyang, where he immediately ordered someone to cut off the rope of the pontoon bridge and throw tens of thousands of defeated soldiers on the north bank of the Han River. Then the army plundered the city of Xiangyang, preparing to flee from Xiangyang to Wuchang.

But he was told that dozens of ships built to escape were burned, and that the Chengtian Mansion in the east had been lost, and Yuan Zongdi, one of Li Zicheng's subordinate generals, led 30,000 elite soldiers to sweep through the prefectures and counties of De'an and Chengtian, and saw that Jingzhou would also be lost!

Beside him, only Zuo Mengeng and Hui Dengxiang, who led hundreds of Ding soldiers to flee back in embarrassment, and Bai Gui, who was also the general of Fang Jun's ninth battalion, did not know whether he was alive or died in the chaotic army, and he was more than lucky.

In the north, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from the outer and inner battalions of the left camp were thrown on the north bank of the Han River, galloping for more than 100 miles, and they were already sleepy and lacking horses, hungry and cold, and behind them were tens of thousands of galloping and roaring righteous soldiers, and in front of them were the surging Han water. It can be said that it has reached a dead end.

"Surrender! We have steamed buns here and military salaries! There was a voice of surrender from behind.

At the head of Xiangyang City, Zuo Liangyu watched as tens of thousands of soldiers and horses that were originally recruited, absorbed, or forcibly formed by him from all over the place, surrendered to the thieves who did not share the sky with him on the edge of the Han River.

"Father! Father! "Zuo Mengeng is blocking his Lao Tzu at this time." There is a sentry to report, the thief and the fierce general Hao Shaoqi, under the guidance of the traitors in Huguang, set up a pontoon bridge from the mouth of the White Horse Cave in the upper reaches of the Han River, and the traitors carried guns for the thieves to die, and supported the brigade to cross the beach. I have crossed the Han River and am heading to Xiangyang! ”

"Wow!" Zuo Liangyu only felt that a mouthful of blood brought a fishy sweet taste in his throat, and he forcibly held it back.

"Quick! Go to the river and seal the boat! No matter what kind of ship it is, load our soldiers and horses, and hurry up! ”

The next day, Zuo Liangyu led more than 30,000 defeated soldiers to set fire to the city after plundering the city of Xiangyang, and boarded the ship to the east. In the city, there was the sound of swords and fire, and people and birds were flying. Outside the city, the sails cover the river, and the sound of sour weeping is connected for ten miles. (To be continued......)